Annapolis Symphony tackles works of Russian composers

Now things get really interesting. Annapolis Symphony conductor Leslie B. Dunner has stuck like glue to the standard Germanic symphonic repertoire for most of his early tenure with the orchestra.

With this weekend's concerts at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, he ventures off the beaten path into the heart of Mother Russia's musical tradition, an idiom that engages his aesthetic sensibilities to the fullest.

The program begins with Alexander Borodin's "In the Steppes of Central Asia," a short tone-poem full of Russian folk tunes, Oriental melodies and depictions of animal life, all interacting amid the sheer desolation of Asiatic Russia.

Serge Prokofieff's "Sinfonia Concertante," composed for Mstislav Rostropovich, Russia's greatest gift to the art of cello playing, provides the centerpiece for the program tomorrow and Saturday.

Closing the program will be Tchaikovsky's Third Orchestral Suite, which was one of the biggest hits of the composer's career.

The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra performs at 8 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts.